156 BIG GAME SHOOTING IN ALASKA chap. 



and hungry. I bade farewell to him next morning with 

 repeated promises to look him up again, if ever the spirit 

 which the Germans call wanderlust should lead my steps 

 once more to that fine wild country. A pitiless, desolate 

 spot in winter, ice-bound and cut off from the rest of the 

 world it is for many months in the year, but a sportsman's 

 paradise during the months when it is possible to travel 

 over it. Owing to its remoteness, and the small number of 

 the natives inhabiting the coast-line, the game which still 

 abounds there may very likely continue plentiful for many 

 years yet to come. 



One more short trip in the dory, and we found ourselves 

 at the spot where we had first embarked in Herendeen Bay. 

 Here one evening and night were spent whilst everything 

 was made up into suitably sized packs. Two more days 

 were occupied in conveying our camp equipment, the bear 

 skins, and bidarki, etc., across the peninsula, and finally we 

 found ourselves once more chez Burns, where I found the 

 host still talking, but on this occasion he had a larger 

 audience than myself, as there were two "outfits" or camps 

 on the shore at Portage Bay, waiting for a favourable wind 

 to cross over to Unga and Sand Point. One party had 

 been on a visit to some celebrated hot springs in Moller Bay 

 for the benefit of the health of one of their number, who 

 was crippled with rheumatism. The water from these springs 

 has the reputation of effecting marvellous cures for this 

 complaint. Whether or no it really does so, I cannot say, 

 but such is the local tradition amongst the natives and 

 whites in the district. Probably some day, when Alaska is 

 more accessible than it is at present, and when it becomes 

 the Norway of America, some enterprising American will 

 erect a summer hotel and hydropathic establishment there 



